It’s assumed that we don’t know what we are talking about, or are imagining things.

Oh my, yes. I’ve even had the one who took the problem seriously later act like I must have been to blame for its being neglected/dismissed earlier. It’s certainly crazy, in some people’s books, to go for years with an untreated problem at all, no matter the reason. That assumption that other doctors necessarily have better motives than the patient is frustrating.

Not to mention the biggie you mention, that we can’t possibly know what our own bodies are doing. Bah.

ekey3cat wrote: As it was, I was a fourteen-year-old girl, with no outward signs of pain. They had nothing but my word to convince them that I was in the WORST PAIN EVER. When I’m in pain, I don’t cry or scream; I get quiet.

That sounds familiar. I got a lot of symptoms dismissed near that age, but was lucky enough to run into two doctors who took me seriously when I did develop a potentially fatal problem (pituitary tumor, apparently iatrogenic). There has been some research on women having pain taken less seriously and receiving less treatment for it than men do–also being perceived as more likely to become dependent on and abuse pain medication, unsupported by reality. I’d be amazed if kids who aren’t even supposed to have Real Problems (besides having lower credibility in general) didn’t get even worse treatment overall.

Such “fun”. This is why I do not believe in hypochondria. Not only do you and I both have disability, weight, and the Autism (I do not personally consider this a disability, thinking differently is not disabling but other things may be. I could be wrong if I am just say so) but we are also women.

Historically women’s needs have been ignored by doctors, and in so many ways still are. I have been told by doctors everything from “You are being hysterical” on to “It is all in your head.” So far 27 accurate diagnosises later (and some pending) nothing was in my head. I never needed their drugs either. It makes me so angry that people neglect those they see as either things or burdens.

I’ve experienced the same problem, in much milder form, as a side effect of taking Elavil for my Crohn’s. I have to stand and focus on the act of urination before the flow starts.

I am very thankful who have doctors who listen to what I say and never blow me off when I tell them that there’s something wrong.

A few years ago and before I met those doctors, I had a pain in my stomach that wouldn’t go away and kept getting worse. That continued for months until a doctor would take it seriously enough to do a simple ultrasound. By the time they located the problem and fixed it, I was perhaps a few days away from going into septic shock.

Although I have no evidence, I can’t help but feel that those doctors would have taken my pain more seriously if I were male and/or an adult. As it was, I was a fourteen-year-old girl, with no outward signs of pain. They had nothing but my word to convince them that I was in the WORST PAIN EVER. When I’m in pain, I don’t cry or scream; I get quiet.

I am very fortunate to have found, in the years since, doctors who listen to me, and to have a former nurse for a mother who taught me that doctors are not gods; they make mistakes, and they are affected by ignorance, prejudice, and arrogance. Some of them are truly great, but you have to look carefully sometimes to find them.